The present invention relates generally to plasma containment devices and, more particularly, to a plasma containment device adapted to simulate, in a controlled environment, some of the environmental conditions present during the propagation of natural ball lightning in order to provide a plasma ball capable of being sustained indefinitely.
Plasma is generally defined as a fully ionized gas in which the gas ions and disassociated electrons form a neutral matter. Plasma, because of its unique physical and chemical properties, has many uses in experimental physics and is studied as a separate branch of physics known as Plasma-Physics. One potential use of the plasma of low atomic number gases such as hydrogen is the generation of heat energy through controlled nuclear fusion. However, a problem with this potential application and with plasma generation in general has been the difficulty of containing a mass of plasma at a fixed location for any substantial duration of time. Prior art plasma containment devices have generally attempted to stabilize a mass of plasma by providing a surrounding magnetic field. However, such devices have not been effective to date because of plasma leakage and discharge usually in the area of the poles of the magnetic field or in cusp areas of the magnetic field. Various attempts to overcome this problem through providing special magnetic field configurations have been ineffective. Examples of prior art devices attempting to solve the problem of plasma containment are numerous.
Hatch, U.S. Pat. No. 3,120,477 which is hereby incorporated by reference, describes "a method of confining and compressing a plasma discharge comprising evacuating a radiofrequency cavity, introducing at a low pressure a low Z gas into said cavity, and exciting at a particular frequency stationary electromagnetic waves in only the TE.sub.210 magnetic quadrupole mode within said cavity, said electromagnetic waves ionizing said low Z gas and confining and compressing the plasma therefrom at the center of said cavity; and a method of confining and compressing a plasma discharge comprising evacuating a radiofrequency cavity, exciting at a particular frequency stationary electromagnetic waves in only the TE.sub.210R magnetic quadrupole mode within said cavity, and introducing at a low pressure a low Z gas into said cavity, said electromagnetic waves ionizing said low Z gas and confining and compressing the plasma therefrom at the center of said cavity; and a method of confining and compressing a plasma discharge comprising evacuating a radiofrequency cavity, exciting at a particular frequency stationary electromagnetic waves in the TE.sub.210R magnetic quadrupole mode within said cavity, introducing at a low pressure a low Z gas into said cavity about the center thereof, said electromagnetic waves ionizing said low Z gas and confining and compressing the plasma therefrom at the center of said cavity."
Friedrichs et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,141,826, which is hereby incorporated by reference, describes, "In a plasma device having a container, a gas of low atomic weight, and means for heating and ionizing said gas to form a substantially perfectly conducting plasma within the container, the improvement comprising first and second current conducting coils displaced from each other along the length of the device in parallel planes at opposite ends of the plasma means for energizing said coils with oppositely directed equal currents for forming a convex plasma-field interface in which magnetic lines of force intersect to form a bi-conical monocusp having opposite point cusps connected to an annular line cusp midway therebetween, said current being sufficiently large such that the ratio of plasma pressure to magnetic field pressure is equal to one, and means for rapidly increasing said current for adiabatically compressing said plasma; and further including a current conductor positioned in the center of the plasma along the length thereof between said point cusps, and means for rapidly increasing the current flow in said current conductor for adiabatically compressing said plasma from its center outwardly."
Dandl et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,160,566, which is hereby incorporated by reference, describes, "a method of producing a stable, energetic, dense plasma within an evacuated reflecting cavity disposed within an evacuated enclosure permeated by axially symmetric magnetic mirror fields comprising the steps of evacuating said cavity and said enclosure to a first selected pressure, feeding high frequency microwave energy of a selected power and frequency into said evacuated reflecting cavity, establishing said magnetic fields at a strength such that the electron cyclotron frequency is made equal to the frequency of said microwave energy, the electrons within said cavity being heated by said microwave energy along lines of constant magnetic flux provided by said magnetic fields, said heated electrons ionizing the background gas within said cavity to form a primary plasma, feeding gas at a selected critical rate into said cavity and simultaneously raising the pressure within said enclosure and cavity to second and third pressures, respectively, said critical gas feed rate being proportional to the selected operating power of said microwave energy for any selected cavity size, whereby a stable plasma blanket is formed surrounding said primary plasma, said blanket shielding said primary plasma from neutral particles and rendering said primary plasma stable, energetic and dense."
Uleski, U.S. Pat. No. 3,614,525, which is hereby incorporated by reference, describes, "an apparatus including plasma compression means for compressing a plasma toward a centrally disposed three-dimensional region, said plasma compression means comprising, in combination, means for generating a plasma, three-dimensional envelope means surrounding said three-dimensional region for containing said plasma substantially all around said three-dimensional region, and three-dimensional magnetic field means having a three-dimensional magnetic field substantially surrounding said three-dimensional envelope, and said three-dimensional field having a three-dimensional weak field in the vicinity of said three-dimensional region and a three-dimensional strong field surrounding said three-dimensional weak field."
A majority of scientists now accept the reality of ball lightning. A paper prepared by the Applicant, which is reprinted below, provides a theoretical basis for explaining the existence of ball lightning as a special case of plasma generation in nature. This paper suggests that by providing conditions similar to the natural conditions responsible for the propagation of ball lightning that plasma may be generated and sustained in the laboratory.